Elon Musk said several times on Friday and Saturday
that he plans to launch his red Tesla Roadster to Mars in
2018.

A SpaceX employee and engineer also said Friday that
the first Falcon Heavy payload had been announced, and that
"this is legit".

Musk reportedly walked back his comments Saturday,
telling The Verge that he had "totally made it up."

However, two spokespeople at SpaceX reportedly
confirmed Musk's claim as true after Musk's
backpedaling.

Update: Elon Musk does plan to launch his
Tesla Roadster to Mars with SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy rocket
launch, company officials reportedly confirmed on Saturday.

In a series of tweets on Friday night, Elon Musk said he plans to
launch his red Tesla Roadster
to Mars orbit in 2018.

Multiple sources now confirm Musk is serious, even if the tech
mogul and billionaire had a good laugh or two at the expense of
journalists over the weekend. Based on Musk's history and the
reported capabilities of his new rocket, there's good reason to
believe him.

In 2010, Musk
launched a wheel of cheese into orbit during the maiden
voyage of Dragon, a spaceship built by his aerospace company,
SpaceX. And in March, Musk said he plans to launch "[s]illiest
thing we can imagine" during the first flight of
Falcon Heavy. The rocket is SpaceX's biggest and newest
launcher, and one that's capable of sending a payload of 37,000
pounds (or nearly 14 Tesla Roadsters' worth of mass) to Mars.

The inaugural Falcon Heavy launch will occur in January 2018,
Musk confirmed this week.

"Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space
Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit," Musk tweeted
on Friday, referencing the song by David Bowie. "Will be in
deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on
ascent."

SpaceX employees also appeared to confirm the claim. Joy Dunn, an
engineer at the company, tweeted on Friday that the first Falcon
Heavy payload had been announced. She said "this is going to be so awesome"
and later added, "oh this is legit and of
course there will be cameras!"

Musk also initially confirmed his plans to The Verge on Friday,
writing "it's so real" in email to the
outlet. However, The Verge updated its story on Saturday, writing
that, in a follow-up email, "Musk told us he 'totally made it
up.'"

Business Insider reached SpaceX, though the company declined to
comment on the record. We also contacted Musk directly, but he
did not immediately reply. NASA also did not immediately answer
our questions about Musk's stated plan to launch a car to Mars
orbit.

Despite the back-and-forth, the claim appears to be legitimate.
Musk reportedly told Eric Berger, Ars Technica's senior space
editor, that the mission was "100% real" after The Verge's
story was updated, and Berger later tweeted that two SpaceX
officials had also confirmed his claim.

"The Roadster to Mars payload is real," the second SpaceX
official reportedly told Berger.

Later on, Phil Plait, an astronomer and writer, reported new
details from Musk at his blog, Bad Astronomy.

"No, it's not going to Mars. It's going near Mars,"
Plait wrote, specifically in what's called a Hohmann transfer
orbit: an elliptical path that goes out to the orbit of Mars and
back to Earth orbit on a near-endless loop (hence the "billion
years or so" detail from Musk).

And apparently, Musk is also willing to consider launching other
objects inside the Tesla suggested by the public.

"Just bear in mind that there is a good chance this monster
rocket blows up," Musk reportedly told Plait in an email, "so I
wouldn't put anything of irreplaceable sentimental value on it."

This story was originally published
on Sat. Dec. 2, 2017, at 3:19 p.m. ET and later updated.